Manchester City Should Not Sign Harry Maguire

Transfer Fee

The final reason why Manchester City should stay clear of signing Harry Maguire is because of the rumored transfer fee that Leicester City are looking for.

Leicester City asked Manchester United last summer for £75 million to sign him. That fee would have tied the world record transfer fee for a defender that Liverpool set when they signed Virgil Van Dijk in January of 2018.

Leicester’s valuation has only gone up since then.

All indications are that Leicester City will want £90 million for Harry Maguire this summer. That fee is well in excess of the rumored fee for Matthijs de Ligt (£62 million), a potential generational talent.

With City needing to address several other positions in their squad, such as full back, holding midfielder, and a forward if Leroy Sane departs, they may not be able to afford that price.

Even if City could paid that fee, they shouldn’t. Maguire is not a generational talent at center back like de Ligt looks to be. He’s not even the best defender in the Premier League right now, and might not be in the top three.

Maguire is also 26 and will turn 27 in March. What he is now is likely what he will be for the next several years of his career. There’s little possibility that he will improve much on what he already is given his age.

Given all of this, then, Manchester City would be wise to steer clear of Harry Maguire this summer. His lack of pace makes him an extremely questionable fit. His lack of consistency shows that he’s not at the level of the Premier League’s best central defenders either.

He is a very good defender who would, on paper, make a great third option on the team. However, he’s not worth the price that Leicester City are seeking for him. City would be wise to look for other alternatives on the market in the coming weeks.